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Analyst: Assassin's Creed II Sales Will Continue To Climb

Despite being forced to battle Activision's mammoth Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed II still managed to sell over 1.6 million copies in its first week of availability. And that number should keep growing at a significant rate, according to one analyst.

The game that many consider to be the best multiplatform title of 2009 featured all sorts of enhancements and upgrades over the original, so perhaps you'll be one of millions who are expected to pick up ACII before March is over. As reported by IndustryGamers, Stern Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia says the game is "tracking ahead of expectations currently" and instead of slowing sales, things should actually pick up over the next few months. Said Bhatia:

"...we expect the title to sell through close to 8.5M units by March of 2010 (up from prior expectation of 7.5M units). For the December quarter, we have raised our unit expectation from ~5.5 million units to 6.5M units. Recall, the game got off to a slightly slower start due to competion from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, but subsequently picked up good momentum."

We certainly have to recommend ACII; it's one of the most rewarding experiences of the generation thus far and if it continues to sell well, it will be a nice addition to Ubisoft's promising first quarter. And although Splinter Cell: Conviction must battle Heavy Rain - both hold February 23 release dates - Ubisoft still expects the latest Sam Fisher adventure to tally big sales as well. ...odd that two stealth-based games can be so popular, huh?

Comments (47 posts)

Wow, that seems a very high predicted number. Assins Creed II is good but is it THAT good that sales can simply keep climbing? 8.5 million would be one hell of a horde for UbiSoft...

Does make you wonder how well PS3 Exclusive games would sell (overall) if they were multi-plat... instead of 1-3 million, they could realistically sell 3-5, or 3-8 million too depending on the title of course...

I find it interesting that there is very little hype for AC2 but yet the sales keep climbing up. This is because the game actually has quality, which is something most games these days don't have. I like the way ubisoft approached this new game and I commend them for their hard work and effort, including the developers for the game who I do not know their name.

My copy is still unopened. Soldiering through Valkyria, which I also got for Xmas. Speaking of Valkyria, saleswise, it pretty much started out looking like a flop, but (mostly due to word of mouth) it's climbed to .8 million sold and will likely make it to one million before it stops selling.Last edited by Kowhoho on 1/12/2010 10:10:05 PM

Yeah, it's really great! Gotta say though, the second I realized there was a "storybook" format where you watched the plot unfold up until each battle, I knew deep down that somewhere a jerkwad was shouting at the top of his lungs, "I don't want to WATCH my games XP neeaahh!"

haha, I knew the same thing when I learned that. As if there's really THAT much difference between a cutscene and a storybook format for cutscenes. It just plain works for this title, it's like an anime where once a battle starts the show just puts you in command.

No doubt, going to be difficult to keep up... wallet and time wise; but I have gotten used to waiting now, and will always try to get these games 20-30% cheaper by waiting a little. There are plenty gamers out there who will pay full price on day one; I say wait a little and get it at a more realistic price.

That's exactly what I'm going to do. I'll grab Heavy Rain, FFXIII and God of War when they are cheaper. Altough I wish I could grab them on day 1, but if I grab one, I won't have money for the other, so.....

Yes, makes complete sense Hellish_Devil... the temptation for a day 1 purchase is strong... but I have had to move to the dark side of the force in order to afford the great titles.

I don't mind if my collection takes a few years yet to build and I end up with 20 - 30 games in that collection. But I want to do it over time, spread the enjoyment and get these titles at a descent price. It will make it feel a lot more sweeter in the long run.

I bought AC2 and MW2 during the $40 sale. I played MW first and my FIRST game online someone said, and I quote: "great I get the f---ing level one on my team". I immediately took the game out and started playing AC2 and haven't played anything else since. I'm SO glad to find a game that outs focus on single player and not catering to a bunch of 12 year olds or people who don't have a life online. I mean, I'd never even played the game online and I get that treatment! AC2 is the biggest surprise of my gaming time. I am so impressed with the quality and gameplay. I wish I could say the same for MW, the most regrettable purchase I made last year.

What kind of a sorry ass story is that? You were expecting some kind of royal treatment or what? If I'd have done that with Burnout Paradise because the first time I played online I got booted out of the team, I'd have missed out on one of the best online experiences you can have.

It's YOUR game buddy. You don't like what someone says to you online, leave the lobby and find a new match. Honestly, you going to stop driving your car next because there's idiots on the road?

I also can't really see heavy rain selling 2 million either. But as you stated maybe in the long run. Unless of course sony markets the hell out of it. Me and my friends are all looking forward to it as soon as we heard about it, maybe if other people heard about it too they would feel the same.

best game ive played in a long time, along with infamous and well i would put darksiders there if it was not for every single freaking level being a puzzle.thats really killed it for me, i was enjoying the game so much but now because of the puzzles i really dont want to play it anymore.shame because im really interested to find out what happens and what other gadgets ill get to play with.

ive noticed developers doing that allot these days like the frustrating puzzles of PoP, or the stupid map puzzle in AC2, or the to long boss battles of darksiders or GOW 2.developers today have perfected the art of making a perfect game than completley destroying it with something so small and pitiful!its almost like there sitting at their desk saying weve made the perfect game, now how can we completley fu** it up?well, congrats guys.mission accomplished!

puzzles are pretty bothersome, especially when there are no clues or the clues are something that if you don't catch onto you just never can. I always feel a lil dirty when I have to consult a walkthrough to beat a puzzle but hey I don't have all damn day.

HA!no not the latest one, the first one i had allot of trouble with, but meh i cant remember what it was like maybe it was not that bad.

and thats the problem no one has a walkthrough for darksiders.ben, if, when you get the time thats one thing we really need.normally game FAQs have one on day one, but almost a week after release and i cant find one.im stuck on that part where you have to move those big statue heads onto the stone elevators to get to the top.and its seriously driving me insane!a hard puzzle once every hour i would not mind, but every freaking 5 minutes?give me a fu**ing break!

I finished the first AC just a little while ago, so I'm not in the mood for more yet. It's nice to see the sequel doing well.

Splinter Cell and Heavy Rain won't really compete with each other. They are 2 real different games aimed at different audiences, being released solely on different consoles. They will both sell what they're supposed to sell.

I mean that the HR people shouldn't say "our sales suffered because we launched the same day SC came out".....just like the SC people shouldn't say "we sold a million less than expected because we launched alongside HR".

If HR doesn't sell according to expectations, it's because gamers just didn't dig it.

I gotta say though that all those buying ACII on PS3, if you haven't already got Uncharted 2 - go get it today, you won't regret it.

And for those that have uncharted 2 and haven't got ACII yet, I'm thinking it might be time to go to the store and pick up a copy of ACII unless you're really opposed to being an assassin. But since you just blew through Uncharted 2, that really shouldn't be a problem, it's not like Drake never sheds blood.

Assassins Creed 2 is a great game. As far as I'm concerned, it renders the original game completely obsolete. That said, 8.5 million is a LOT of sales. Only time will tell if/when it gets there.
I'm interested in seeing the breakdown of worldwide sales #'s between the two platforms. Sure the 360 version will sell more, but how much more? It is stats like these that Sony needs to concern itself with.
As for the comment earlier about how 360 owners actually support their exclusives? You're totally right man...Luckily for me, I'll be getting both Heavy Rain and Splinter Cell Conviction. Not immediately after release, but I'll get there. I have a LARGE backlog of games that I want to catch up on.

AC2 is great ,i have to play AC1 cause i never try it.
MW2 is good too i dont know why ppl hate it so much.
I dont play call of duty since Big Red One for PS2 and i think this one is good.
But i have to say than the reset of the challenges and guns is retarded and i dont get it ,what the point to unlock hard challenges if on the next prestige u gotta do it all over again.

The two games are definitely related story wise so it will depend what kind of gamer you are. If knowing absolutely everything about the story is important to you before moving on then yeah, you'll need the first one.

That being said, IMO, you won't miss much if you skip the first one, and you'll have a much better gaming experience. Also, you'll either love or hate the first one, so if you end up hating it, you won't be compelled to play the second. Which would be a damn shame because it's great.

Thank you, I'll go with your second paragraph.I never really fancied the first one so it would seem almost like a chore to get it now. Makes me wonder why I'm compelled to play this one now... guess it's the reviews n all.

I completely ignored this game because I bought the first game immediately when it was released and I was hugely disappointed. However, I've been hearing from TONS of people that this game blows every single aspect of the first game away. To all the fans of the second game, would you still recommend AC2 to someone who didn't like AA1?